How much streaming prices have risen in the UK since 2016
Key Points
- Average SVoD prices in the UK have risen 35% since 2016
- Price increases now drive almost all streaming revenue growth, with household take-up flat at 70%
- Price rises have become less frequent and more incremental, with some tiers unchanged for years
- 22% of former Netflix users and 35% of former Amazon Prime Video users cancelled because of cost
- UK consumers spent £12.66bn on TV, video and cinema in 2025, up 5%
Average subscription video-on-demand prices in the UK have risen 35% since 2016, according to Ofcom, and price increases now account for almost all of the sector’s revenue growth.
Ofcom set out the figure in its Media Nations UK 2026 report, published on Wednesday (29 July).
UK SVoD revenues climbed 18% in 2025 to £5.17 billion, but household take-up has barely moved, reaching 70% in Q1 2026 against 68% in Q1 2022.
With roughly seven in ten households already subscribing to at least one service, Ofcom describes limited scope for further growth through new users.
The good news is that Ofcom’s tracking of monthly pricing for standard, advertising-free tiers shows rises becoming less frequent and more incremental, with longer periods of stability between them.
NOW’s Entertainment tier has not increased in price since early 2023. Netflix’s 2025 increase to its standard tier followed a period of stability dating back to 2022.
Households are spreading spend across more services
UK households that use SVoD services subscribe to more than two on average.
69% of households take at least one of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Disney+, 20% take all three, and 18% subscribe to at least one service outside the top five.
Netflix reaches 18.1 million households (61%), Amazon Prime Video 13.7 million (46%) and Disney+ 7.8 million (26%).
Ofcom notes that further price increases may now produce changes in behaviour, including cancellation, downgrading to lower-cost tiers or switching between platforms, rather than higher overall spend.
13% of Netflix subscribers downgraded their subscription during the previous year, and 62% of them moved to the cheaper ad-supported tier. Among people who cancelled a service in the three months before Ofcom’s VoD Survey, 22% of former Netflix users and 35% of former Amazon Prime Video users cited cost.
Ofcom’s survey found only 18% of respondents agreed with the statement that they spend too much money subscribing to video-on-demand services, which the regulator reads as some remaining headroom for increases.
Subscription tiering has widened the range of entry points. Netflix’s ad-supported tier now accounts for 43% of its UK subscribers, Disney+ reached 43% in Q1 2026, and 90% of Amazon Prime Video subscribers take an ad-supported option.
Bundling is changing the price picture
Sky has expanded its bundled offering to bring Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and Hayu together within a single subscription. A
Amazon operates a different model through Prime Video Channels, which allows third-party services including Apple TV+ and ITVX Premium to be subscribed to and billed through Amazon.
HBO Max entered the market in March 2026 and is forecast to reach 6 million UK subscribers by the end of the year, largely through distribution partnerships with Sky and TNT Sports rather than direct-to-consumer acquisition.
The service accounted for 2.1% of in-home SVoD viewing in May 2026, the fifth-largest share, behind Paramount+ on 2.6% and ahead of Apple TV on 1.4%.
